This morning I went to a funeral for a dear friend’s wife whose body was taken by pancreatic cancer at age 42.  This poem, read at the ceremony, has been running through my mind all day.  As we enter 2016 I plan to keep these sentiments at the forefront of my consciousness.

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

—Mary Oliver

The recipe below is adapted from the wonderful Emerging Adult Eats Blog with some additions such as quinoa, a jalapeno, and tomato sauce.  Cheers to a 2016 filled with field strolling, appreciation, intention, and many fun new meals!

• 1/2 cup dry quinoa (we used red because we had it)
• 5-6 bell peppers (I chose yellow because i think they taste best)
• 1 pound of ground turkey
• 1 onion – diced
• 1 jalapeno – diced
• 3 tablespoons of taco seasoning (we had Penzeys)
• 1 can of black beans (15.5 oz) – drained and rinsed
• 1.5 cups of frozen sweet corn
• 1 large can of diced tomatoes (28 oz)

Steps and Notes:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 and bake the peppers for 15 minutes. 
   • Bake on a greased cookie sheet
   • Spray peppers with olive oil to prevent burning
   • Complete steps 2-8 while the peppers cook.
2. Cook 1/2 cup of quinoa on the back burner
   • For 1/2 cup of quinoa we use 3/4 cup of water and cook, covered, until the seeds show their stem.
3. In a skillet, saute the onion and garlic until soft (about 3 minutes). Then add the jalapeno and cook for another 3 minutes-ish.
   • We removed 1/2 of the jalapeno seeds to be safe, but the final product was fine spice-wise
   • The recipe also called for a cast iron skillet – which I got for Christmas! SO excited to use it for the first time tonight. Such an improvement.
4. Add the turkey meat, season with 3 tablespoons of taco seasoning, and saute until all turkey is cooked
5. Add the beans and corn and cook for 5 more minutes until warm
6. Add 1 cup of diced tomatoes, juice included. (Save the rest of the jar for the sauce)
7. Remove the meat/veggie mixture with a slotted spoon into a mixing bowl and combine with the quinoa
8. In the skillet (which is currently filled with the delicious turkey juice), create a simple red sauce by cooking down the remaining diced tomatoes, adding some oregano, and a bit more taco seasoning
9. Stuff the peppers with the mixture, cover with foil, and bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Tonight we sprinkled each pepper with cheese and topped them with a bit of avocado. We also had a spinach, roasted corn, and feta salad for a yummy full meal.